The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in priority Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-71735, filed on Mar. 14, 2001, the contents of which is herein expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compressor with a built-in electric motor suitable for mounting on an engine of a vehicle, in particular suitable for a hybrid vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In a vehicle driven only by an engine, a compressor driven by the engine has been used for air-conditioning the vehicle compartment with the compressor being mounted alongside of the engine.
Hybrid vehicles having both an engine and an electric motor and traveling by use of one of them according to conditions have been practically used in recent times. In the hybrid vehicles, air-conditioning of the vehicle compartment is made by a refrigerating compressor driven by and mounted alongside the engine.
It is proposed that the engines of hybrid vehicles should be shut off while they are temporarily stationary at a place such as a traffic light in order to reduce effects of the engine upon the environment. When the proposal is followed with a vehicle where a compressor driven by the engine is used, air-conditioning stops each time when the vehicle stops, causing problem for the driver and passengers in the compartment in summer and winter seasons, and especially in regions with extremely cold or hot climate.
Consequently, it is conceivable to adopt a compressor driven by an electric motor, especially to adopt a compressor with built-in motor that has a compressing mechanism 101 and an electric motor 102 accommodated in a case 100, which is used for indoor air conditioners, as shown in FIG. 5. However, there is no space in the engine compartment for conventional compressors of indoor air conditioning even in these hybrid vehicles, because the arranging of devices in the engine compartment is done based on conventional automobiles, with some contrivance given to the mounting space of batteries. Therefore the compressor has to be mounted by fixing it alongside the engine, as in conventional systems.
With regard to this arrangement inside the engine compartment, the present inventors have made various experiments, and found out that when using installing legs or mounting seats 103 made of sheet-metal welded to the conventional case 100, a receiving seat corresponding to them was needed on the engine side, and it was inconvenient. The conventional mounting seat 103 did not have enough strength to withstand the weight and vibration of the compressor either, in a posture of being fixed alongside the engine, because the compressor was heavy and weighed about seven to eight kilograms. The conventional mounting seat 103 did not have enough durability either, and lacked reliability, and was prone to be damaged at its welded portion to the case 100, due to being affected by the vibration of the engine. It is conceivable to insert an elastic member between the mounting seat 103 and the engine, to prevent the vibration of the engine from affecting the compressor, and to prevent the vibration of the compressor from affecting the passenger compartment. Since the mounting locations of the mounting seats 103 to the engine are dispersed, the mounting locations of the elastic members are also dispersed, and the number of components and the number of processes for assembly increases, causing a rise in cost. Since the elastic members arranged in dispersion on each of the mounting portions only act upon their mounted range of area, the vibration preventing effect is weak, and when an elastic member with a small spring constant is adopted to compensate this weak effect, the elastic member is prone to be damaged between the vibrating engine and compressor.
An object of the present invention is to provide a compressor with a built-in motor that is suitable for mounting on an engine, and which has sufficient mounting strength, and is suited for preventing vibration.
To achieve the above-mentioned objects, a compressor with a built-in motor of the present invention, which is mounted on an engine of a mobile structure, includes a compressing mechanism and an electric motor for driving the compressing mechanism, the mechanism and motor being accommodated in a case, and is provided with separated seating members which have mounting seats, embrace the case and fix the compressor by mutually linking together, in which the compressor is mounted on the engine while the mounting seats of the separated seating members held against the engine.
While novel features of the invention are set forth in the preceding, the invention, both as to organization and content, can be further understood and appreciated, along with other objects and features thereof, from the following detailed description and examples when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.